HighPoint is currently conducting a Gross to Net Benchmarking Survey. Early, initial results from the survey have yielded some useful insights into industry trends around the following GTN organizational size and structure questions:

Where does the Gross to Net process reside in a typical organization?

Who owns the process, and what is the reporting structure?

How many full-time employees (FTEs) are dedicated to the process, and how is responsibility divided?

What are the differences across small and large manufacturers?

These are typical questions across the industry – relevant for early-stage manufacturers as they plan to set up operations for the first time as well as established companies looking to make optimizations.

What is Gross to Net?

In the life sciences industry, Gross to Net (GTN) is the management process at the heart of the Pricing and Contracting life cycle. GTN is the process of forecasting demand and accruing for rebates, chargebacks, and other adjustments to the price charged for a product sale.

Benchmarking survey early trends

Respondent demographics

The following trends are based on a sample of 15 small, medium and large manufacturers and annual revenues. As the sample size builds up, we expect the statistical significance of the results to increase; however, the initial data can provide some directional trend information for decision makers. The current set of responses are relatively even across branded, generic, branded generic, and biotech. Biopharma and medical device companies have lower representation. 60 percent of these respondents report having a role of associate director or above.

Initial trends in organizational size and structure

How many FTEs?

50 percent of the organizations have less than 5 FTEs supporting the Gross to Net (GTN) Process

Within small pharma, 50 percent of all companies have 1 to 2 FTEs supporting GTN; 62.5 percent have less than 5 FTEs

Within large pharma, 100 percent of all companies have greater than 6 FTEs supporting GTN; 67 percent have more than 10 FTEs supporting the Gross to Net Process

67 percent of large manufacturers operate in this model, followed by a dedicated Gross to Net team that falls under the umbrella of either Finance or Marketing

Sample size in medium manufacturers is currently too small to draw any specific conclusions

How is the responsibility divided between FTEs?

67 percent of all organizations have no clear division of responsibility for managing GTN process; these results are heavily skewed by small manufacturers (87.5 percent of all respondents)

25 percent of all organizations divide responsibility by channel

Within large pharma, 67 percent of all companies divide responsibility by product or channel, with an equal split between both

Sample size in medium manufacturers is currently too small to draw any specific conclusions

Who owns Gross to Net?

In 42 percent of the organizations, Gross to Net process is largely owned by the Finance team with representation from other functions

67 percent of large manufacturers operate in this model, followed by a dedicated Gross to Net team that falls under the umbrella of either Finance or Marketing

For small manufacturers, followed by “Finance team owning process with representation from other functions” (37.5 percent), the second most common scenario is individuals from the Finance function owning GTN as an additional responsibility (25 percent)

Sample size in medium manufacturers is currently too small to draw any specific conclusions

Preliminary conclusion

Initial benchmarking results are very consistent with informal observations across the industry. As organizations mature, the organizational support around Gross to Net processes tends to get more structured. Especially for early-stage pharma companies setting their processes for the first time, it is important to understand the potential evolution and develop a strong foundation to develop a scalable end-to-end process.

Supporting data

1.1) On an annual basis, what is your company's revenue?

1.2) On an annual basis, what is your company's revenue

1.3) Which of the following best describe who is responsible for creating Gross to Net forecasts for your company?

1.4) If you have a dedicated Gross to Net forecasting team, who do they report to?

1.5) How many FTEs in your company support the Gross to Net Process?

1.6) Within the Gross to Net team, how is the responsibility divided between FTEs?

Written by
Neelabh Saxena, Senior Principal, Pricing and Contracting Strategy and Analytics
Neelabh Saxena is a Senior Principal within the Pricing, Contracting & Market Access practice at HighPoint Solutions, with more than 10 years of Life Sciences industry experience focusing on Global Market Access, Commercial Strategy, Gross to Net Forecasting, Medicaid and Government Pricing. Prior to HighPoint, Neelabh was a consultant at ZS Associates and Michael Allen Company (a boutique healthcare strategy consulting company) focusing on pharmaceutical marketing strategy and analytics.
His academic credentials include a Masters Diploma in Global Market Access from EMAUD, France; Masters in Pharmaceutical Economics from Barcelona School of Management; an MBA from New York University, a M.S. in MIS from Texas A &M University and a B.E in Computer Engineering from University of Delhi.